Refugee Crisis

As thousands of refugees and migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and other countries in crisis move west and north through Europe, they are encountering a new set of obstacles and humiliations. Follow live coverage of the crisis from CBC's foreign correspondents.

Denmark will not take part in a scheme to share out 160,000 refugees proposed by European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, integration minister Inger Stojberg said on Friday.

Denmark, like Britain, has opted out of European Union Justice and Home Affairs rules covering some aspects of immigration and as such is not obliged to take part in any EU schemes on sharing out refugees.

"We're not going to take any of the 160,000 asylum seekers that need to be distributed on Monday," Stojberg told journalists. "There are two reasons: Partly because we have a justice opt-out, and partly because we have taken our share."

by CBC News9/11/2015 9:57:54 AM

Thomson Reuters

Over 3,000 refugees entered Denmark this week, although most said they were heading towards Sweden, where they expected a friendlier welcome.

More than 14,000 people claimed asylum in Denmark last year and it expects around 20,000 this year. Sweden took in more than 80,000 refugees last year and expects to take the same number this year.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says Canada is "the largest per capita refugee receiver in the world," but the numbers tell a different story.

by CBC News9/11/2015 10:06:42 AM

Thomson Reuters

The United Nations refugee agency welcomed on Friday an offer by Washington to take 10,000 Syrian refugees but said it was inadequate given the scale of the exodus of people fleeing war and persecution.

"Of course the United States could and should do much more, but it is a step in the right direction," William Spindler, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a Geneva news briefing.

It is hard not to notice all the able-bodied men among the asylum-seekers flooding into Europe, but the diverse crowds are also made up of women, small children, the elderly and people with physical challenges.

by CBC News9/11/2015 10:29:49 AM

Associated Press

A Hungarian camerawoman caught on video kicking and tripping migrants near the Serbian border has offered a qualified apology for her behaviour.

Petra Laszlo says in the letter published in the daily Magyar Nemzet newspaper that she was "sincerely sorry for what happened," but addedL "I was scared as they streamed toward me, and then something snapped inside me."

The 40-year-old was fired by the right-wing N1TV online channel after footage of her kicking and tripping migrants Tuesday near the village of Roszke went viral on social media.

Police questioned Laszlo on suspicion of disorderly conduct Thursday, released her without charge, and say the investigation is continuing.

At meeting in Prague, foreign ministers of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia reject Germany's call for introducing mandatory quotas for accepting migrants. The four say no to EU plan to relocate 160,000 people across the 28-nation bloc.

by CBC News9/11/2015 12:49:38 PM

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says country expects an influx of about 40,000 refugees this weekend, Reuters reports.

"This challenge cannot be borne by one country. We have to invoke European solidarity," he said.

Migrants walk on a highway towards Vienna, near Nickelsdorf, Austria, on Friday. The rail link between Austria and Hungary will remain closed through the weekend because of the continued strain on the system from the large inflow of migrants. (Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)

by CBC News9/11/2015 1:13:55 PM

A Jordanian soldier carries Syrian refugee children on Thursday after they crossed into Jordanian territory with their families, near the town of Ruwaished, 240 kilometres east of Amman. Jordan hosts about 630,000 Syrian refugees, who now make up about 10 percent of the country's population. (Raad Adayleh/Associated Press)

CBC.ca PlayerAladin, 24, and his family were among crowds of asylum seekers at Keleti station in Budapest

by CBC News9/11/2015 1:44:03 PM

Thomson Reuters

A record 432,761 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean so far in 2015, more than doubling the total for all of last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday.

The Geneva-based agency released latest figures showing an estimated 309,356 people had arrived by sea in Greece by earlier this week, with another 121,139 arriving in Italy, 2,166 in Spain and 100 in Malta.

A Syrian woman cries as she sits on a folding bed in a former newspaper printing house used as a refugee registration centre in Neu-Isenburg, on the outskirts of Frankfurt on Friday. About 700 people, mainly from Syria and Afghnaistan found shelter in the building. (Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters)

The Greek port city of Mytilene seems to have changed back to its old self overnight as many of the migrants who were living in tent cities move on. But refugees are still an issue for the island of Lesbos.

Children look out from a bus near a collection point in Roszke, Hungary on Friday. Hungary said on Thursday it expected to finish building a fence along its border with Serbia by early October. (Laszlo Balogh/Reuters)

by CBC News9/11/2015 5:26:16 PM

Iraqi refugee Umm Fadil, tends to her crying son Ahmad, 41 days, while resting by a railway track after they crossed the Serbian-Hungarian border near Roszke, southern Hungary on Friday. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)

As new laws and border controls come into effect in Europe, time is running out for Syrian refugees hoping to reunite their families there.

by CBC News9/14/2015 10:04:05 AM

Canadian Tima Kurdi, the aunt of of three-year-old Syrian refugee boy Alan Kurdi who died trying to reach Greece from Turkey, writes on a giant citizen's Refugees Welcome Wall during a demonstration in Brussels on Monday. Divided European Union justice and home affairs ministers were due to meet today to discuss the migrant crisis. (Yves Herman/Reuters)

European Union interior ministers were set to meet for emergency migration talks on Monday, as Germany reintroduced controls at its border with Austria to stem the continuing flow of refugees.

by CBC News9/14/2015 10:38:59 AM

Hungarian soldiers arrive at the border near Roszke, Hungary on Monday. Germany re-imposed border controls on Sunday, and Austria said Monday it was sending the military to guard its southern border. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

by CBC News9/14/2015 10:40:40 AM

Thomson Reuters

Poland is ready to impose controls at its borders with other European Union members in case of any threats to border security, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz said on Monday.

She also said she told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker that Poland would not agree automatic quotas for accepting migrants and that Warsaw demands a strengthening of controls at EU's external borders.

"As soon as I receive (any) notification of any threat (to border security), Poland will start controlling its borders," Kopacz told reporters. "We will accept only as many refugees as we can afford, not a single one more or less," she said.

Refugees will continue to arrive in Germany despite the government's introduction of temporary border controls and the new measures do not affect the right to asylum for people who are being persecuted, a government spokesman said on Monday.

"Temporary border controls are not a closure of the borders - that's something completely different. Refugees will still come to Germany," Steffen Seibert said at a government news conference, adding that the government was hoping the entry process would be "more orderly" now.

"Our principles have not changed - we continue to be led by humanity and the right to protection that the politically persecuted and war refugees have here in Germany," he said.

by CBC News9/14/2015 11:31:45 AM

Associated Press

Austrian Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said the country "will proceed as Germany does." Speaking in Brussels, she said the checks would be introduced "as soon as possible" on theAustrian-Hungarian border.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing their homelands are trekking now through Europe by train, bus or foot. Those seeking to go to Germany usually go through Hungary and Austria first.

German policemen register refugees at the rail station in Freilassing on Monday before taking them away in busses. Germany introduced temporary border controls Sunday to stem the tide of refugees streaming across its border, sending a message to its European partners that it needs more help with an influx that is straining its ability to cope. (Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press)